Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy YOUR Favorite Posts from 2011

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YOUR Favorite Posts from 2011

Posted: 28 Dec 2011 06:43 PM PST

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Yesterday, I shared my personal favorite posts from 2011. Today, it’s your turn! Only you don’t have to tell me what your favorite posts are – Google Analytics already did. Yup, the secret’s out.

Here’s the countdown to the Top 11 Posts of 2011:

(Click on the picture to read the post.)

#11

Gifting from the Kitchen in Style {the QECH way}: Egg Carton Muffin Tins

Funny that a craft made the top 11 posts on a food blog, but sometimes the two go hand-in-hand. For example, in this post, I show you how to dress up the presentation for your from-the-kitchen Christmas gifts by using a humble egg carton. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. Well, I can say so myself, because it wasn’t my idea. So I say again, Pretty cool!

#10

Not-So-Healthy Birthday Cake Decorating Ideas

I also find it funny that on a healthy food blog, one of the top 10 posts was actually very unhealthy. Well, not that the post itself was unhealthy, but it was about very unhealthy things. Things like food coloring, and candy, and cake, and decorators’ frosting. For some reason, one of the top-searched pages on my blog is this post with a few ideas for decorating birthday cakes. If you haven’t read it yet, you will want to, if nothing else because of the blue-icing-on-the-carpet incident. Yeah. Erased that one from my memory until I read the post again. I think I need therapy now.

#9

"Have a Cupcake" Birthday Celebration: Cupcake Mix in a Jar

Apparently, you readers of mine are really into cupcakes. Sadness, because I don’t feature cupcakes very often. Only on birthdays and other special celebrations, which is what this particular post is about. Lots and lots of people come to my blog looking for recipes for cupcake-mix-in-a-jar, which does not surprise me, because when I went to make them for my SIL and MIL for their birthdays, I couldn’t find much online myself. Jar mixes are such a great frugal gift that also doesn’t take a lot of time.

#8

Secret Recipe Club: Chocolate Banana Cinnamon Roll Muffins

This one’s quite a mouthful: Chocolate Banana Cinnamon Roll Muffins. That’s right! Chocolate flavored banana muffin/sweet bread dough, rolled with a cinnamon mixture to look like a cinnamon roll, then baked in a muffin tin. A decadent breakfast, perfect for special occasions, but healthified a bit so you don’t have to feel too guilty when you indulge. This was one of my contributions to the Secret Recipe Club, and was quite well received!

#7

A Little More Mexican: Pork Carnitas

Finally, a relatively healthy post! This one is a recipe for slow cooker pork carnitas. Yum! Every time I happen upon a good pork roast, I make this recipe. It’s super delicious eaten taco style, but it’s just as great piled over mashed or baked potatoes, stuffed into a sandwich, or just eaten plain. It’s good stuff, people.

#6

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies, aka the Magically Disappearing Dessert

There is a good reason this is one of the top ten posts this year. This recipe is uh-maze-ing-ly good. Thinking about it makes me want to run down to the store for a can of pumpkin (because I am sadly already out of even the pumpkin puree I froze, and pumpkin season hereabouts is over). You’ve definitely got to put pumpkin chocolate chip blondies on your to-do list for next autumn. Right now. Because I don’t want you to forget – that would be a travesty of highest proportions.

#5

Gifts from the Kitchen: Scone Mix in a Jar

If cupcake mix in a jar is a rare species, scone mix in a jar is even rarer. Or more rare, whichever is proper English. (Hey, I’m a blogger, not an English professor!). I do believe when researching, I found one – yes, one! – scone mix in a jar recipe. I couldn’t even find a recipe in any actual books, either. Even books that were specifically about mixes in jars. This is a rare and precious jewel of a recipe, my friends. Treasure it, and use it wisely.

#4

No Butter? No Eggs? You Can Still Make Cookies!

It seems that I am not the only one who occasionally runs out of butter and eggs but still wants to make cookies. And I’m definitely not the only one who has had to eliminate dairy and eggs from my diet for personal or medical reasons. I am not alone. And you are not alone. The fact that this Egg-Free, Butter-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe made my top 5 is proof of that. We are an army of egg-free dairy-free cookie eaters, and we shall prevail!

#3

How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Budget Dollars

Hey, look! One of my favorites is also one of your favorites! Looks like we all want to save a little money on our grocery budgets! This is my post about how to go about getting started on once-a-month grocery shopping.

#2

Fight the Flu with Pumpkin Soup

After all the sugary sweet stuff that climbed its way into the top 10 ranks of my blog posts, it’s a relief to know that the post in the #2 spot was actually pretty healthy. In fact, it was part of the Flu Fighting Foods series my friends and I did back in the fall. In particular, this was our pumpkin highlight, and my post features pumpkin soup. Makes me a little nostalgic for fall….

And… drumroll, please! Brrrrrbrrrrrrrrbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrr (that’s my best drum roll):

#1

An Early Christmas Present - Healthy Holidays eBook

The #1 post on my blog for the whole year was – not surprisingly – the one telling you how to get a free gift from me! This eBook was put together by me and my friends, and features some awesome cookie and other treat recipes. It’s perfect for the holidays, but it’s useful any time. Most of the recipes would be welcome any time of year. And despite the fact that it’s free, there are some recipes that aren’t available anywhere online. But you have to get it by the end of the week! I’m removing the link from the email subscriptions then, so get it while you can!

So… did I cover your favorite posts(s)? Are there any you love that aren’t mentioned here? I’d love to know what my readers think, so please tell me which are your favorites! Then I can be sure to offer up more along those lines. And be sure to subscribe so that you never miss another great post!